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54 having to live up to his position, receives as much for his expenses as a professional for expenses and salary. This state of things does not seem exactly in harmony with old-fashioned views of what an amateur should be; but for my part I think, for county matches at any rate, that it is an unavoidable evil. But every element of public opinion ought to condemn any payment except for county matches, and perhaps University matches away from home. Personally, I dislike tabulated statements of number of points, percentages, and all those complicated tables and calculations, and the name of champion county, but this is an age when such things seem a necessity. We must all be lowering a record, and the consequence is, that the competition among counties has lately become one of the fiercest and keenest struggles in cricket. No county can afford to lose a man, and if England and Australia play an international match, the date of the match is regulated so that no first-class county match shall clash with this important